Sami - Introduction, Location, Language, Folklore, Religion, Major holidays, Rites of passage Sami LOCATION: Norway; Sweden; Finland; Russia POPULATION: About 50,000 LANGUAGE: Sami language in many dialects; also language of country in which they live RELIGION: Lutheran Church 1 • INTRODUCTION While the Sami, or Lapps (as they were formerly called), are commonly thought of as the inhabitants of Lapland, they have never had a country of their own. They are the original inhabitants of northern Scandinavia and most of Finland. Their neighbors have called them Lapps, but they prefer to be called Samer or Sami , since Lapp means a patch of cloth for mending and was a name imposed on them by the people who settled on their lands. The Sami refer to their land as Sapmi or Same. The Sami first appear in written history in the works of the Roman author Tacitus in about AD 98. Nearly 900 years later, a Norwegian chieftain visiting King Alfred the Great of England spoke of these reindeer herders, who were paying taxes to him in the form of furs, feathers, and whale bones.

Over the centuries many armed nations—including the Karelians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, and Russians—demanded their loyalty and taxes. In some cases, the Sami had to pay taxes to two or three governments—as well as fines imposed by one country for paying taxes to another! Today the Sami are citizens of the countries within whose borders they live, with full rights to education, social services, religious freedom, and participation in the political process. Norway, Sweden, and Finland all have Sami parliaments. At the same time, however, the Sami continue to preserve and defend their ethnic identity and traditional cultural values. Until the liberalization instituted by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's government in the late 1980s, the Russian Sami had almost no contact with those in other areas. Sami living in Scandinavia formed the Nordic Sami Council in 1956 to promote cooperation between their populations in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. In 1973 the Nordic Sami Institute at Kautokeino, Norway, was founded to promote the study of the Sami language and culture. In 1989, a Sami College was established there as well.

The universities of Tromsø in Norway, Umla in Sweden, and Oulu in Finland have Sami departments in which Sami topics are taught, both separately and as part of established disciplines. 2 • LOCATION The Sami live in tundra (arctic or subarctic treeless plain), taiga (subarctic forest), and coastal zones in the far north of Europe, spread out over four different countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia's Kola peninsula. They live on coasts and islands warmed by the Gulf Stream, on plateaus dotted by lakes and streams, and on forested mountains. Sami territory lies at latitudes above 62 degrees north, and much of it is above the Arctic Circle, with dark, cold winters and warm, light summers. It is often called the "land of the midnight sun" because depending on the latitude, the sun may be visible for up to seventy days and nights straight in the summer. The far north sees almost three months of continuous daylight. Balancing this out, however, is an equally long period of darkness in the winter, which may last from October to March. Beginning in November, the sun disappears for weeks.

Much of the Samis' land is at high altitudes, rising to over 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) above sea level. The highest point is Kebnekajse, at 6,960 feet (2,121 meters). Traditionally, the Sami lived in a community of families called a siida , whose members cooperated in hunting, trapping, and fishing. Officially, the number of Sami is estimated at between 44,000 and 50,000 people. An estimated 30,000 to 35,000 live in Norway, 10,000 in Sweden, 3,000 to 4,000 in Finland, and 1,000 to 2,000 in Russia. However, some think the actual number is considerably higher. For many years, the Sami culture and way of life were criticized by their neighbors, causing many to conceal their true identity. Thus, it is difficult to know how many Sami there actually are (some estimates are as high as 200,000).

3 • LANGUAGE Sami is a Finno-Ugric language that is most closely related to Finnish, Estonian, Livonian, Votic, and several other little-known languages. While it varies from region to region, it does so based on the lifestyle of the Sami people rather than on the national boundaries of the lands in which they live. In fact, the present official definition of a Sami is primarily a linguistic one. Altogether there are fifty dialects, but these fall into three major groups (east, central, and south) which are unintelligible to one another, which is to say that speakers of one dialect sill not understand those of another dialect. Today almost all Sami also speak the language of their native country. Sami is rich in words that describe reindeer, with words for different colors, sizes, antler spreads, and fur textures. Other words indicate how tame a reindeer is or how good it is at pulling sleds. There is actually a separate word describing a male reindeer in each year of his life. A poem by Nordic Council-prizewinning poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää consists mainly of different Sami words for different kinds of reindeer.

There are also hundreds of words that differentiate snow according to its age, depth, density, and hardness. For example, terms exist for powdery snow, snow that fell yesterday, and snow that is soft underneath with a hard crust on top. The availability of schooling in the Sami language has become an important issue to those concerned with the preservation of the Sami culture and way of life. Nowadays Sami may be used as the language of instruction throughout primary and secondary school. Sami is taught and studied at the university level as well. 4 • FOLKLORE Traditionally, the Sami believed that specific spirits were associated with certain places and with the deceased. Many of their myths and legends concern the underworld. Others involve the Stallos, a race of troll-like giants who ate humans or sucked out their strength through an iron pipe. Many tales involve Sami outwitting the Stallos. Another kind of villian in Sami folklore is the stallu, a usually wicked person who can appear in various forms. The Sami creation myth, directly related to their harsh environment, tells the story of a monstrous giant named Biegolmai, the Wind Man.

In the beginning of time, Biegolmai created the Sapmi region by taking two huge shovels, one to whip up the wind and the other to drop such huge amounts of snow that no one could live there. One day, however, one of Biegolmai's shovels broke, the wind died down, and the Sami were able to enter Sapmi. Some of the Sami epics trace Sami ancestry to the sun. In the mid-nineteenth century, a Sami minister, Anders Fjellner, recorded epic mythical poems in which the Daughter of the Sun favored the Sami and brought the reindeer to them. In a related myth, the Son of the Sun had three sons who became the ancestors of the Sami. At their deaths they became stars in the heavens, and can be seen today in the belt of the constellation Orion. One of the most famous Sami folktales is the story of "The Pathfinder." In it, a Sami village is attacked by a marauding tribe from the east called the Tjudes. The village fights as best it can, but the Tjudes vastly outnumber the Sami and soon kill all but one—a young boy.

The Tjudes then force the young boy to lead them to the next village so they can attack and overtake it as well. The boy reluctantly agrees, leading the Tjudes by night through the mountains. At the top of one mountain, the Tjudes decide to wait until morning, fearing they will lose their way getting down the mountain. The Sami boy, however, urges them to follow him. He says he knows the mountain well and will lead them by torch. He suggests that they all tie themselves together by rope so none of them gets lost. The Tjudes agree, grateful that the Sami boy has become so loyal to them. As they make their way down the mountain, however, the Sami boy leads them to a great cliff, stops at its edge and tosses his torch over the side, yelling, "Follow me!" The Tjudes, tied together, fall over the edge. This story was made into a movie called The Pathfinder. 5 • RELIGION In the traditional Sami religion, both living beings and inanimate objects such as trees were thought to have souls. A priest or shaman, called a noaidi, acted as an intermediary between the spiritual and material worlds.

He would consult with the dead while in a trance induced by beating on a magic drum and performing a special kind of chanting called juoigan (yoik) in Sami. Juoigan is the traditional Sami music. Over the course of time, all of the Sami have converted to Christianity, in large part through the efforts of Lars Levi Laestadiusin, a nineteenth-century evangelical Congregationalist. Today most Sami practice the dominant Lutheran religion of the Nordic countries in which they live. 6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS Sami observe the major holidays of the Christian calendar. Every Easter (late March or early April), a big festival is held at Kautokeino in northern Norway, complete with typical Sami entertainments, including sled races and yoik singing. Many couples choose this setting for their weddings. Many Sami observe Finland's "little Christmas" ( Pikkujoulu ) early in December, marking the beginning of festivities that last through December 26. On Christmas Eve (December 24), special "midday trees" are adorned with candles, silver and gold ribbons, and other decorations.

After readings from the Gospels, a festive meal is eaten, typically consisting of salmon, ham, vegetables, and rice pudding. Boxing Day on December 26 is marked by sled rides, lasso throwing, and other traditional games. Secular holidays include the large spring celebrations held by the Sami every year, occasions on which they wear their best clothes and gather with friends to mark the end of winter. 7 • RITES OF PASSAGE The Sami held on to their traditional ways longer than most peoples in Europe and have yet to fully abandon traditional life for a modern way of life. Still, the dictates of today's world have forced them to follow rituals that would be easily recognized in the Western world. Most Sami, for instance, participate in the major Lutheran rituals even though they sometimes adapt them to their own use. The ritual of baptism and the way the Sami have both used and avoided it offer an interesting illustration of a traditional culture struggling to maintain itself within the industrialized world. The Scandanavian countries where the Sami live required surnames, and the Lutheran church applied pressure on the Sami to use traditional Christian names for their children.

The Sami resisted for years, maintaining their tradition of no surnames and naming their children for recently deceased elders or infants. The Sami reluctantly created a system of surnames similar to the Scandanavian system of adding "son" (sen) or "daughter" (dotter) to the first name of a parent and began using traditional Scandanavian names for baptism. Afterward, however, when the family left the church, they would hold their own baptism ceremony in which the imposed name was "cleaned" away and a "stronger," more traditional name was given to the child. Similar practices have been applied to other areas of traditional Sami life: a concession is made to modernism, while a connection is maintained to traditionalism. 8 • RELATIONSHIPS Sami society is traditionally open and egalitarian, and the Sami are known for their courtesy and hospitality to outsiders. They willingly accept other Sami who may not be full-blooded. A person's attitude toward the treasured Sami language and traditions are considered more important than bloodlines. A knowledge of the Sami language is considered one of the main ways of identifying someone as a Sami.

9 • LIVING CONDITIONS As a seminomadic people, the reindeer-herding Sami traditionally maintained permanent dwellings—sometimes more than one—and spent part of their time living in tents. The permanent homes were either frame buildings or sod huts. The Sami tent, called a lavvo, has a circular framework of poles leaning inward like the teepee or wigwam of Native Americans, and a floor of birch twigs covered with layers of reindeer fur. Both tents and huts are arranged around a central fire. Today most Sami, who are no longer reindeer herders, live in typical Scandinavian houses with central heating and running water. Family life typically centers on the kitchen. The Sami receive the same level of health care as other citizens of the countries in which they live. Like their Scandinavian neighbors, they have a high rate of heart disease. However, Sami are often active and healthy into their eighties. They sometimes supplement Western-style medical care with home remedies or treatment derived from old beliefs in the curing power of the word of the shaman, or medicine man. 10 • FAMILY LIFE Traditionally, the Sami lived in a group of families called a siida.

Today, the nuclear family is the basic social unit among the Sami, and families are close-knit with a great deal of attention paid to the children. The Sami language contains an unusually large number of words that refer to family relationships. Traditionally, the males of the family were occupied with herding, hunting, and making boats, sleds, and tools, while the women cooked, made clothing and thread, and cured the meat. Each family had its own mark (and children had their own marks as well). Herding families use these marks to distinguish their reindeer from those of other families. 11 • CLOTHING Some, but not all, Sami still wear the group's brightly colored traditional clothing. It is most easily recognizable by the distinctive bands of bright red and yellow patterns against a deep blue background of wool or felt. These bands appear as decorations on men's tunics (gaktis), as borders on the women's skirts, and on the hats of both sexes. Men's hats vary by region; some are cone-shaped while others have four corners. Women and girls may drape fringed scarves around their shoulders. Warm reindeer-skin coats are worn by both sexes.

The Sami wear moccasins of reindeer skin with turned-up toes, fastened with ribbons. However, they wear no socks. Instead, they stuff their moccasins with soft sedge grass to protect their feet against the cold and dampness. Urban Sami dress in modern, Western-style clothing. 12 • FOOD Reindeer meat is a protein-rich dietary staple. Even the reindeer's blood is used, for sausages. Fish caught in the many lakes of the Sami's homelands are eaten boiled, grilled, dried, smoked, or salted. Wild berries are another mainstay of the Sami diet, especially the vitamin C–rich cloudberry. To help them stay warm and alert in their cold environment, the Sami drink coffee throughout the day. Supper is the main (and traditionally, the only hot) meal of the day. 13 • EDUCATION Traditionally, Sami children learned what they would need to know as adults by observing and helping their parents. Today, they generally attend the schools in the countries in which they live. There are several Sami high schools, where most of the subjects are taught in the Sami language.

The universities of Tromsø in Norway, Umla in Sweden, and Oulu in Finland have Sami departments in which Sami topics are taught. 14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE The Sami have a rich tradition of storytelling. A Sami musical tradition that has recently been revived is the singing of the light-hearted, unaccompanied song called the juoigan (yoik). It contains improvised words on almost any topic, but the musical element is the main focus. The yoik resembles the Native American practice of "melodizing" a feeling or mood. There are no collections of yoiks because they are so individualized and so private. A person's yoik is only shared within a close circle of friends and family. The yoik has been described by researchers as one of the most ancient musical traditions in Europe. The Sami also invented their own musical instrument, a small reed pipe. There are also Sami theaters, publications, and arts and crafts organizations. In 1991 Nils-Aslak Valkeapää of Finland became the first Sami writer to win the Nordic Council prize for literature.

15 • EMPLOYMENT Young Sami often are faced with the decision of whether to remain working within their traditions or to adapt to modernism, which the governments of Scandinavia make available to them through schooling and programs of adaptation. For many years, there was intense government pressure for the Sami to abandon tradition and assimilate to Scandinavian life. In recent years, many Sami have rejected this pressure and there is now a considerable movement among the Sami to retain their cultural identity. A considerable number of young Sami who have been exposed to the modern, urban lifestyles of Scandinavia have rejected it for a more traditional lifestyle, although they still have modern conveniences unheard of in earlier generations. Still, it is more common to see a Sami driving a Volvo than to see one herding rein-deer—a traditional occupation engaged in by only 10 percent of Sami. Sami in Scandinavia have bright prospects for employment. While there is some discrimination, most Scandinavians are rigidly egalitarian, and virtually all occupations are open to the Sami. 16 • SPORTS The Samis' outdoor recreation is closely linked to the activities that provide their survival.

They enjoy competing to see who can throw their reindeer lassos the farthest and with the greatest precision. Reindeer-drawn sled races are popular, especially at the Easter festivals in the heart of Sapmi. 17 • RECREATION Sami entertainment is provided both by expressive activities, including storytelling and yoik singing, and physical contests such as sled racing and lasso throwing. A traditional board game, rarely played anymore, is tablo and involves one character playing the wolf or the fox and the other a hunter. The players maneuver their pieces around a board with the hunter trying to corner the predator before he or she "eats" all the hunter's pieces. 18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES The Sami produce beautiful crafts, carving a variety of objects—such as tools and utensils—from bone, wood, reindeer antlers, and silver, often with geometric motifs. They have also perfected a special kind of ribbon weaving. Their crafts are popular tourist purchases, although the Sami save many of their creations for their own use. Much of their artistic talent goes into the elaborate braided designs of their costumes.

19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS The Sami homelands have been affected by the invasion of mining and logging companies, hydroelectric power projects, communication networks, and tourism, and threatened by pollution. A controversy that received particular attention was the building of the Alta hydroelectric dam in Norway, which flooded reindeer pastures important to the region's Sami herders. A group of Sami protesters traveled to the capital city of Oslo, where they set up lavvos (tents) in front of the Norwegian parliament and began a hunger strike. Their efforts were unsuccessful, but their actions drew worldwide attention. Since 1968, the National Association of Norwegian Sami (NSR) has been working actively for Sami political rights, as well as improvements in cultural, social, and economic conditions. The Sami were also affected by the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine, which contaminated some of their grazing areas, making their reindeer potentially unsafe for them to market or eat themselves. Fish, berries, and drinking water in the affected areas were poisoned as well.

Another problem for the Sami has been the increase of tourists from the south, who deplete important Sami resources, such as game birds, fish, and berries, without actually bringing much money into the community. 20 • BIBLIOGRAPHY Beach, Hugh. A Year in Lapland. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1993. Lander, Patricia Slade, and Claudette Charbonneau. The Land and People of Finland. New York: Lippincott, 1990. Paine, Robert. Herds of the Tundra: A Portrait of Saami Reindeer Pastoralism. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1994 Rajanen, Aini. Of Finnish Ways. Minneapolis, Minn.: Dillon Press, 1981. Reynolds, Jan. Far North. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1992. "Saami." Encyclopedia of World Cultures (Europe). Boston: G. K. Hall, 1992. Vitebsky, Piers. The Saami of Lapland. New York: Thomson Learning, 1993.

WEB SITES The Sami people The Sami people genealogy sources A brief history The Sami people lives in the northern parts of four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia (the Kola Peninsula). In earlier times Sápmi (the land of the Sami) covered a much bigger part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, probably also more of northern Russia. In this north-western part of Europe the Sami people is the indigenous population, as far as we know today. Many scientists believe that this ethnic group descends from the Komsa people, who lived along the northern coast as far back as eight to ten thousand years ago. Through the ages the Sami culture has changed very much and become diversified in the same process. The Sami were gatherers and hunters for thousands of years. They may have been farmers, too. Wild reindeer in the inland and fish in rivers, lakes and the coastal waters were among their main food resources. The Sami never created a state system, but nevertheless they had a well-organized society, with the siida as the fundamental unit. A siida was an area along a river, a lake or a fjord.

Up to twelve families shared each siida, where they had different living places for each season. A siida council decided how the resources should be harvested through the year. This was a very democratic system at the core of an adaptation that didn't threaten its resource base. When the stock of wild reindeer decreased after the Middle ages some of the families in inland siidas started to keep reindeer herds. No siida had enough grazing land for such big herds. The reindeer had to be moved from the inland plains to the coast and back again every year, crossing many siidas. This was one of the reasons for the decline of the siida system. Pressure from other people (Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Russians) colonizing Sami land was another. In the coastal areas most of the Sami never had reindeer herds. They lived as farmers and fishermen, a traditional combination along the Norwegian coast. In the later centuries other groups have moved in among them, mainly Norwegians and Kvens (immigrants from Finland). From the 1700s pressure against Sami culture grew.

In Norway the authorities tried to "norwegianize" the Sami, using the school, the church and the laws as means in this policy. Social-darwinistic and nationalistic ideas played a significant role as an ideological base. Things have changed to the better the last twenty years. This is only a crude sketch of the always interesting and sometimes tragic history of the Sami people. The Net has a lot of good information if you wish to learn more - just google (or bing) the word "saami" or "sami". Lapps, Finns or Sami? In earlier times the Sami were called Lapps (as in Lapland and Lappmarken) and Finns (as in Finnmark and Finland). During the centuries when they were suppressed by their majority neighbours the names 'Lapp' and 'Finn' acquired a disparaging value (in English the word 'Finn' means an inhabitant of Finland). In the last decades Sami (or same in Norwegian and Swedish), derived from their own word sámit, has replaced the older names. How many Sami? Assimilation makes it difficult to give exact numbers for the Sami population today.

They are at least 30 thousand, but they may be twice as many. The majority lives in Norway, where population numbers are at their most uncertain. Not only has assimilation gone very far in many areas, in addition a lot of Sami have moved to other parts of the country. Russia has the smallest part. There are two thousand Sami on the Kola peninsula, fighting to survive as an ethnic group. A life-threatening environment in only one of their enemies! The language The Sami language is related to - but very different from - Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian. Is it divided into many dialects. Over the centuries each of these dialects developed until most of them became mutually unintelligible. However, the North Sami dialect is spoken by a majority of the population, and is the most used dialect in literature and education. Almost all Sami speak the official language of the state where they live, but far from all speak Sami. However, the Sami language is now expanding among the groups who lost it due to assimilation and cultural suppression.

Sami names The coastal Sami in Norway use the same naming patterns and more or less the same names as the Norwegians, and have done so for at least 150 years. This applies to first names as well as surnames. Among the inland Sami there are other names and naming traditions. They have used hereditary family names for many generations, for instance Hætta, Somby, Turi, Magga and so on. These are names used in the north. Among the 'south Sami' mountain names are often used as surnames, for instance Dunfjeld, Kvitfjell and Kappfjell (fjell means mountain). In all the four countries Sami naming patterns have been influenced by the surrounding traditions. At the Kola Peninsula you will find that most Sami have very Russian-sounding names. However, in Norway, Sweden and Finland it's usually quite easy to recognize a name as Sami. What does a Sami look like? Let me answer this way: Tall or small and every height between, blue or brown eyes - slanted or not slanted at all, from very fair to very dark hair, high or medium or low cheekbones.

You've got the picture? Of course you can recognize the Sami when they wear their traditional costumes. But again, the variation is great, with many different costumes, dependent of what region the Sami belong to, and also what kind of costume they are wearing. Sami and the reindeer The reindeer-herding Sami is a minority within their own culture, in Norway less than 10% of the Sami population there. But this group has always been proud keepers of the traditional values in their culture, let it be costumes, joik (their songs), lavvu (their tents), language or other cultural traits. The traditional reindeer-herding is threatened in many ways, but the Sami culture is more vital than it was a hundred years ago. Today you'll find well-educated and gifted Sami in almost every imaginable occupation on all levels of the society. They may not have a reindeer herd in the mountains, but they are without doubt Sami and proud of it. Sami emigration? Yes, a group of Sami emigrated to America a hundred years ago. Their descendants are aware of their Sami roots.

However, many emigrants from the Nordic majority peoples had Sami ancestors, perhaps without knowing it. This is at least true for the Norwegians. So, if your ancestors came from Nordland, Troms or Finnmark counties in Norway, be prepared to add a new ethnic dimension to your ancestry! Bygdebok and the Sami Don't expect to find any information about the Sami in a bygdebok written by a Norwegian before 1980 or even later than that. And if you find some Sami history there it will in most cases be inaccurate and given far less attention than it deserves. This reflects attitudes with roots back in times when the Sami culture was looked upon as inferior compared with Norwegian culture. Is it difficult to research Sami ancestry? In some cases - yes, in other cases - no. Sami genealogy information appears in more or less the same sources as the majority people do, at least in Norway and Sweden. In some areas much good work has been done to reconstruct the old family history, and some books are published, most of them in Finnmark county (Norway) and in Sweden. Every dialect group seems to have a genealogy project going on. The times are a-changing!

Years ago many genealogists stopped the research on an ancestry line when a Sami appeared there. Today more and more genealogists double their efforts if this happens! :tilbake til hovedsida..........jump to the English main page: Factsheet The Sami people in Sweden Introduction The Sami (Lapp) people have inhabited the northern portions of Scandinavia, Finland and eastward over the Russian Kola Peninsula since ancient times. Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden claim territories ill what is now regarded as Sapmi (Lapland). To some extent, these countries have recognized the property rights of the Sami there. The Area of Sami settlement extends nowadays over the entire Fennoscandinavian arctic region and stretches along the mountain districts on both sides of the Norwegian-Swedish border down to the northernmost part of the province of Dalarna in Sweden (see map). Today the Sami are a minority in their region of settlement. In a few municipalities of northern Finland and Norway, they constitute a majority.

An estimated 50-65,000 Sami live in northern Scandinvia and the Kola Peninsula; of these, between 17,000 and 20,000 live in Swedish Sï¿½pmi. History Two thousand years ago, the Sami inhabited all of present-day Finland. They have also lived in coastal areas around the Gulf of Bothnia, in the inland of Sweden and all the way to the Atlanï¿½tic Ocean, from central Norway north to the White Sea, in what is now Russia. The oldest archaeological discoveries were found along the coast of the Arctic Ocean in northern Norway and are about 10,000 years old. Evidence of later human habitation has been found throughout Sï¿½pmi. It is likely that these are the remains of a people who later came to be called Sami. Their society consisted of family groups (siida) which lived and utilized natural resources together. Some of these groups lived in permanent settlements; others were nomadic to varying degrees.

Those Sami who based their liveliï¿½hood on fishing in lakes, rivers, seas and fjords settled more permanently than those who lived on hunting or the full scale reindeer breeding, which developed much later. About half a century ago, some Sami communities became enï¿½tirely nomadic because they followed their reinï¿½deer. Today only a small fraction of the Sami -those engaged in reindeer herding- live in siida groups for at least part of the year. The great majority of them now live like other Scandinavians. The leader of a siida group, who was often the oldest woman or man, controlled daily life. The leader decided where or when the group would move and which members would fish in different lakes. Different siida groups also held joint consultations in which their elders discussed common problems. The Sami based their livelihood mainly on hunting and fishing; they often bartered the products from such animals as reindeer, moose and beaver. The major rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Bothnia conï¿½tained plenty of salmon in the summer months.

Trading with neighbours to the east and west apparently also played an important role, especially when bartering for implements, tools or jewelry that could not be produced in Sï¿½pmi. Sami society rested on the good will of the gods and the wisdom of the elders. The elders were consulted and obeyed on secular matters. When it came to contacts with the gods or other non-earthly powers, the noaidi or shaman was the man to talk to. The noaidi was a person with special gifts, who could make contact with the gods and see into the future with the aid of a drum. Some of them could also cure illnesses. The surrounding peoples gradually discovered the riches that existed in Sï¿½pmi, in the form of fur-bearing animals and fish. Trade contacts to the east, toward what is now Rusï¿½sia, were established relatively early. Around two thousand years ago, the Sami began tradï¿½ing with people from present-day Norway and Sweden in an east-west and later on in a north-south direction. The Norwegian coastline, with open water all year round, was a particularly suitable trade route. But the major rivers of northern Finland and Sweden were also good pathways for trade.

Sami legends contain many stories about how armed robbers came to take away the treasures the thought the Sami possessed. Because Sami communities consisted of numerous small groups of people spread across huge territories, it was not difficult for armed outsiders to overpower the Sami. Although these travellers were regarded as a scourge, the Sami also took advantage of their visits because they often also carried useful goods for barter. They might include metal tools or clothes that the Sami themselves were unable to make. The various nation-states gradually began to claim exclusive rights to this trading, and later also to the lands where groups of traders or robbers had previously journeyed. Some Sami could be forced to pay taxes to several governï¿½ments at the same time. During the 17th and 18th centuries, these territorial claims were also among the reasons behind the wars between Nordic states. Another means that nation-states employed to claim sovereignty over Sami territory was to convert the population to Christianity. While witchcraft trials were being held elsewhere in Europe, the Christianization of the Sami was underway. The noaidi -the spiritual leaders of the Sami and the force that held together their communities- were persecuted.

They were compelled to renounce their old religion and surrender their sacred drums to the missionaries who traveled around converting the Sami. While this missionary work was underway, some areas of Sami settlement were colonized. The Swedish government encouraged farmers to move north. Those who settled in the land of the Sami were exempted from taxes, and also from military service for a time. The missionaries and this relatively modest colonization did not change the lives of the Sami to any significant degree. The big changes arrived during the late 19th century and the early 20th century, when industrialization took off in Sweden and the country needed Sï¿½pmi's natural resources: metal ores, hydroelectric power and timber. Despite the severe living conditions that preï¿½vail in northern Scandinavia, the ancestors of today's Sami succeeded in building up a viable culture adapted to the environment and ecologï¿½ical systems of Sï¿½pmi. Living within nature and with the help of nature, without upsetting its balance, is a pattern that even today's Sami largely follow. Reindeer breeding No one can say for sure how long the Sami have used reindeer. In 98 A.D.

the Roman hisï¿½torian, Tacitus, wrote about the Fenni, a huntï¿½ing people in the far north who were probably Sami. In 500 A.D., Chinese sources wrote of a people in the northeast who used "deer" for transportation and as dairy animals. In the late 9th century a Norwegian magnate, Ottar, told of the "wealth" of the Sami-the reindeer. Even then, tame reindeer were being used for transportation or as lures when hunting wild reindeer. There are thus indications that the Sami have lived together with reindeer for more than 1,000 years. Various kinds of tame reindeer breeding gradually developed later. In the more southerly areas of Sï¿½pmi, a more intensive form of reindeer breeding developed. Siidi groups moved along with their reindeer between winter pasture areas in the coniferous forests and summer pastures in the high mounï¿½tains. This completely nomadic lifestyle, where the group lived together with the reindeer herd all year, ended in the mid-20th century, howï¿½ever.

Among those Sami who lived in forested areas, a relatively stationary form of reindeer breeding had evolved, where the animals grazed freely within limited areas. This breedï¿½ing system was often combined with hunting and fishing. Today such forest reindeer breedï¿½ing is practiced in the interior of Sweden's Norrbotten and Vï¿½sterbotten provinces. The dominant form of reindeer breeding today is more extensive. The Sami allow their herds to migrate within fairly wide, limited areas. They are often watched from the boundaries of those areas. At regular intervals the herds arc gathered for sorting, marking or slaughter. Even in the extensive method of breeding, herds arc often divided into smaller groups during the colder half of the year, when more intensive surveillance and moving of reindeer between different pastures are necessary. The families move between slimmer and winter pasture areas. But they often have one or two homes in the vicinity of these pastures, where they live permanently for the season. Today, reindeer breeding is organized into Sami villages. There are 43 of these in all. Their members are engaged in reindeer breeding within a geographically limited area.

A Sami village is both a social, an administrative and an economic unit, whose members decide how reindeer herding in their area should be run, within the limits of the Reindeer Husbandry Law (Rennï¿½ringslagen), the first one from 1886. Among the purposes of the current law, which dates from 1971, are to promote more efficient reindeer breeding and give the Sami villages a stronger position. It specifies what land and water rights the reindeer-breeding Sami enjoy and what obligations they have toward the rest of society. Only Sami who belong to a Sami village may practice reindeer breeding. These Sami also enjoy other rights, for example with regard to hunting and fishing. The Swedish reindeer legislation and policy has been discussed and criticised in the Swedish parliament. In 1997 the Parliament asked the government to appoint a committee to revise and modernise the present Act and policies regarding Sami reindeer herding. Today reindeer breeding is permitted on about 35 percent of the territory of Sweden. Of the country's Sami, approximately 3,000 are directly dependent on reindeer.

Modern equipment such as snow scooters, cross-country motorcycles, helicopters and two-way radio are used in reindeer herding. Of the 750,000 reindeer to be found in Sï¿½pmi as a whole, some 260,000 live on Swedish territory. Reindeer husbandry is of great importance to many of the municipalities in northern Sweden, because the shipping, trading and processing of its products provide numerous jobs. Language The Sami language, belongs to the Finno-Ugric family. It has three main dialects: East Sami, Central Sami and South Sami. The borders beï¿½tween these dialects follow the Sami settlement patterns over the centuries. The differences beï¿½tween the three main dialects are sometimes so great that they can be described as different languages. All the Sami dialects contain a rich vocabulary related to the natural environment. They have numerous, very precise words to describe land, water and snow. There is also a rich, varied vocabulary for reindeer and reindeer breeding. For example, the appearance of a reindeer can be described using a large number of words.

Its fur, antlers, sex and age can be conveyed in such detail that in a herd of several thousand animals, only one reindeer fits that particular description. Of the three Sami dialects, Central Sami is the most widely spoken. East Sami and South Sami are spoken in areas where Sami are often in a minority. The use of these dialects has therefore declined during the 20th century, and in these areas the Sami have largely switched to speaking the language of the majority populaï¿½tion. An estimated 70 percent of Sami speak Sami. But given the increased awareness of the pivotal role of language in cultural life -not only by the Sami themselves but also among politicians and government agencies- people know how vital it is for Sami children to learn their language thoroughly. Today, one of the roles of the new agency Sametinget is to reinforce and develop the Sami language. A report, submitted to the Parliament in 1997 proposed that the Sami language should receive official status in Sweden and that special measures should be adopted to reinforce the language in the four northernmost municipalities.

However, this means that a large area where the Sami language is spoken is not covered by the proposal. The most threatened Sami dialects are spoken in these areas. With new language legislation in accordance with the report Sweden could ratify the Council of Europe's convention on lesser-used languages. Education Because the earlier social structure of the Sami consisted of scattered, more or less nomadic groups of people, there was neither, an opportunity nor a need to establish schools for Sami children. When missionary work began in Sï¿½pmi during the early 17th century, however, some attempts were made to put Sami children in permanent schools. This often occurred against the will of the children and their parï¿½ents. In 1632 a permanent Sami School in Lycksele was established. One aim of instrucï¿½tion there was to teach the children how to read and write Swedish, but the main purpose of the school was to try to train Sami clergyï¿½men who could work among their own people.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, permanent schools were also established elsewhere in Sï¿½pmi, but because a large percentage of the Sami were nomads, it was, also necessary to esï¿½tablish mobile schools. Until this century, the Church of Sweden assumed responsibility for educating Swedish Sami children. It was very common for the language of instruction to be Sami. The purpose of this schooling gradually changed, however. In 1913 special nomad schools were established where instruction took place mainly in Swedish. The purpose of this schooling was to give Sami children a rudimentary education, so that they could cope with Swedish society, albeit without "sipping the cup of civilization" to an excessive degree. This approach was prevalent among decision-makers during the decades between 1910 and 1930 in particular. Today Sami children are able to choose between attending government Sami schools or regular municipal nine-year-compulsory schools where they can also receive instruction in Sami. There is a special board of education responsible for the curriculum at the Sami schools.

The aim of Sami education in Sweden is to give the children the same instruction that Swedish children receive in the compulsory school while providing them with schooling that takes into account their own linguistic and cultural background. Sami preschools are now becoming more numerous in Sweden. Sami day care centers, howï¿½ever, exist only in a few municipalities so far. One problem is a shortage of trained personnel. A special training program at the teachers' college in Luleï¿½ for Sami-speaking teachers specializing in preschools and grades 1-6 has greatly improved the situation, however. Since 1950 there has been a special residential folk high school in Jokkmokk that offers adult education with special Sami related courses both to Sami and non-Sami. As for higher education, since 1974 there has been a professorial chair in the Sami language at the University of Umeï¿½ and Sami is also taught at the Finno-Ugric institution at the university of Uppsala. There are similar chairs at the Univerï¿½sities of Oslo and Tromsï¿½ (Norway) and the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu (Finland).

Since 1989 there has been a Sami college in Guovdageaidnu (Kautokeino), Norway, which among other things trains Sami teachers. The instruction takes place in the Sami language, and students from Finland and Sweden are acï¿½cepted. Gouvdageaidnu also has a Nordic Sami Institute (Sï¿½mi Instituhtta) which was estabï¿½lished in 1973) and pursues research. Music and literature The oral storytelling tradition has always had a central role in Sami culture, and Sami music is also part of this tradition. "Yoiking" -a distinctive form of singing- is a way of recalling events and people, or describing nature and telling stories. These traditions live on today. Yoiking used to be something that missionaries, in particular, associated with heathendom and sin. They regarded the Sami as communicating with spirits and the devil through their yoiks. It was therefore continuously suppressed, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. Even today in Guovdageaidnu, Sami children are forbidden from yoiking during school hours.

By the mid-20th century, the art of yoiking was close to disappearing. During the 1960s and 1970s yoiking -and Sami culï¿½tural values generally- underwent a renaissance. Young Sami were foremost among those who began to delve into their cultural heritage, doing research on it and encouraging other Sami to preserve cultural expressions that were in the process of being wiped out. In recent decades, Sami themselves have also become writers. In 1910 Johan Turi's bookï¿½ Muittalus sï¿½miid birra (Tale of the Sami) appeared. As the first author to write a book in the Sami language, he presented the history of the Sami, including descriptions of the daily lives of reindeer-breeding Sami around the turn of the century. The book also records his peoï¿½ple's legends and folk beliefs. Many others folï¿½lowed Turi's example. During the past 30 years, too, a relatively large quantity of Samiï¿½language literature has been published.

Among modern Sami writers can be mentioned Paulus Utsi, Erik Nilsson-Mankok, Per Idivuoma, and Annok Sarri-Nordrï¿½. Handicrafts and art To the Sami, the concepts of handicraft and art are intertwined. Everyday items, some of them still in use today, not only had a practical funcï¿½tion but were designed to be aesthetically pleasing. The drum of the noadi was not only a musical instrument, but also an artist's image of the worlds of men and gods. The kolt -the traditional outer garment of the Sami- is not only functional and warm, but is also a beautiful example of textile art, with its embroidery work and bright colors. The shape and appearance of such everyday objects as knives, bowls and harnesses are as important as their funcï¿½tionality. Typical Sami materials include reindeer horn, wood and leather. Most Sami artists of today are bearers of these traditions when they produce handicrafts or visual art works. The Sami folk high school in Jokkmokk offers a special study program where students can learn the traditional craft forms.

Duodje -Sami handicraft- is also of great economic importance. A large percentage of duodje now carries a special trademark that guarantees both its quality and authenticity. The government and the Sami During the 20th century, Swedish government policy toward the Sami has undergone major changes. Government policy toward the Sami in the early 20th century was based on trying to preserve them as a kind of "primitive people." Traces of this policy are still found in certain laws and in the practices of some governï¿½ment agencies. One problem, for example, is the fact that the interests of environment proï¿½tection and the tourism industry arc in conflict with the attempts of the Sami to modernize reindeer breeding. The right of the Sami to their culture and language did not receive widespread attention until the 1960s and 1970s when many immigrant groups in Sweden began to call for government efforts to help preserve their particular cultures. A Sami seniorlevel comprehensive school was then established and home language teaching became available in schools. But most Sami still feel that the government has no consistent policy for providing adequate support to develop their culture.

The Reindeer Husbandry Law, enacted in 1971 and last revised in 1993, allows the Sami some freedom to organize their own affairs. However, the present Law, like its predecessors, regulates only the rights of reindeer breeding Sami. Only those Sami who are permitted to carry out reindeer herding enjoy special land and water rights in Sï¿½pmi. The land and water rights of Sami fishermen or other Sami have never been covered by the present legislation. During the past 30 years, reindeer breeding Sami have lost large tracts of pasture land due to various kinds of economic encroachment. Modern forestry in particular -including the practices of clear-cutting and plowing- has made it more difficult for the Sami to feed their reindeer in the wintertime. In different ways and via different tribunals, they have tried to improve the protection of those areas they regard as their own, but to date, they have always lost their battles over these areas in the courts.

In one 1966 lawsuit that was not finally resolved until 1981, the Sami tried to establish their rights to the reindeer-grazing mountains of southern Sï¿½pmi via the Swedish courts. The verdict stated that the Sami had once enjoyed the right of possession of these mountains, but that the Swedish government had subsequently assumed that right. However, the Sami enjoy a continued usufructuary right to the mountains, based on ancient tradition. In 1993, however, Parliament approved changes in the law governing the right of amateur hunters to hunt small animals and to fish in the reindeer-grazing mountains of Jamtland and west of the cultivation boundary in Norrbotten and Vï¿½sterbotten provinces. According to the Reindeer Husbandry Law, these lands are yearï¿½round reindeer breeding areas and are "exclusively for reindeer herding use.ï¿½ The previous exclusive hunting right of the Sami was confisï¿½cated by the government which asserts a parallel hunting right on these lands.

Even previous to this, the administration of hunting permits had already largely been taken over by the county authorities, and permits were granted to non-Sami upon payment to the Sami. Now, however, the county authorities administer what the State claims is its own hunting right. This new policy has been criticised both by public opinion and by legal and environmental experts. The issue has been brought to the European Court and is still on the agenda of the Swedish government. Questions concerning rights to land and water in the Sami area are under consideration in a committee appointed by the Swedish government in 1998. The goal of the committee is to investigate whether Sweden can ratify the ILO convention 169 on the protection of the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. In 1983 the Cabinet appointed a commission of inquiry on Sami affairs, which published its main report in 1989. It recommended that the position of the Sami as an indigenous ethnic minority be underscored in the Instrument of Government (part of the Swedish Constituï¿½tion).

The commission also proposed a law aimed at promoting Sami culture and organizations, along with the establishment of a popularly elected Sami agency (Sametinget) that would represent the interests of this minority in various connections. The panel also recommended amendments to the Reindeer Husbandry Law aimed at strengthening the legal position of Sami in these areas. The only outcome of the Sami affairs commission's report was that the proposal to establish a popularly elected Sameting was adopted. The commission's proposal concerning a special law to strengthen the position of the Sami language was rejected, as were other proposals aimed at strengthening the land and water right of the Sami. Aside from the confiscation of Sami exclusive small game hunting which was rolled into the same proposal as the establishment of the Sameting, government policy makers referred all these issues to the Sameting which, in its role as a government agency, will now handle Sami affairs and related planning and research. From a Sami perspective, the outcome of 10 years of joint research by the Sami and governï¿½ment representatives was a backward step in political terms, and above all in legal terms.

Legally speaking, the position of the Samis was weakened, especially with reference to ownership of hunting and fishing rights and the question of who will administer these resources. Organizations The emergence of modern grass roots organizations among the Sami occurred at the same time as the major "popular movements" made their breakthrough in Sweden early in the 20th century. The Sami popular movement drew both ideas and inspiration from the evangelical, temperance and labor movements of the day. Only after World War II, however, did Sami organizations become really active. A permanent central organization emerged in 1950, when the National Union of the Swedish Sami People (Svenska Samernas Riksfï¿½rbund, SSR) was established. Its members are the Sami villages and various Sami organizations in Sweden. In 1945 Sameï¿½tnam was formed for the purpose of promoting Sami culture and duodji, or handicrafts. In 1963 the Association of Swedish Sami Youth (Sï¿½minuorra) was established.

Under the slogan "the Sami, one people," the main organizations of the Sami in Sweden belong to the Sami Council (Sï¿½mirï¿½ddi), which has fostered cooperation among the Sami of Sweden, Norway and Finland since 1956. The Sami of Russia are now also members of the Council. The Sï¿½mirï¿½ddi is listed as a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the UN (ECOSOC) system and has committed itself in particular to developing safeguards in international law for the rights of indigenous people to life, culture and economic development. Lapp/Sami Lapp, which is not a native term, is gradually being replaced in Fennoscandiavia by the indigenous minority's own name for itself, sï¿½bme or dialect variations thereof. In Swedish and Norwegian, the word Same is often used. in Finnish saamelainen. These changes in usage have been brought about largely by pressure from the Lapp community as the term Lapp is felt by them to have strongly negative overtones. Efforts have been made to seek a suitable equivalent in the English language.

Same, it is thought, can be too easily confused with the English adjective same, and two other variations are slowly gaining ground: Saami or Sami. The latter alternative is favoured by the Laplanders and is being introduced in English translations of their institutions and organizations. Bron: The Swedish Institute (SI) The Swedish Institute (SI) is a public agency established to disseminate knowledge about Sweden abroad. It produces a wide range of publications, in several languages, on many aspects of Swedish society.

Question: Where do the Sami people live?
Answer: Lapland.